If using 32 Standard (spinning SAS) disks, set as a 16-column single simple storage space for maximum space and performance, we get a 32 TB data disk that delivers 960 MB/s throughput or 8k IOPS (256 KB block size).

32x 1TB GRS Standard (HDD) Page Blobs cost $2,621/month

32x 1TB LRS Standard (HDD) Page Blobs cost $1,638/month

If using 32 Premium (SSD) disks, set as a 16-column single simple storage space for maximum space and performance, we get a 32 TB data disk that delivers 3,200 MB/s throughput or 80k IOPS (256KB block size). Premium SSD storage is available as LRS only. The cost for 32x 1TB disks is 2,379/month

If using a D14 size VM with Cloud Connect, setting up the Veeam Backup and Replication 8, WAN Accelerator, and CC Gateway on the same VM:

16 CPU cores provide plenty adequate processing for the WAN Accelerator which is by far the one component here that uses most CPU cycles. It’s also plenty good for SQL 2012 Express used by Veeam 8 on the same VM.

112 GB RAM is an overkill here in my opinion. 32 GB should be plenty.

800 GB SSD non-persistent temporary storage is perfect for the WAN Accelerator global cache. WAN Accelerator global cache disk must be very fast. The only problem is that it’s non-persistent, but this can be overcome by automation/scripting to maintain a copy of the WAN Accelerator folder on the ‘e’ drive 32 TB data disk or even on an Azure SMB2 share.

In my opinion, cost benefit analysis of Premium SSD Storage for the 32-TB data disk versus using Standard SAS Storage shows that Standard storage is still the way to go for Veeam Cloud Connect on Azure. It’s $740/month cheaper (31% less) and delivers 960 MB/s throughput or 8k IOPS at 256KB block size which is plenty good for Veeam.

An Azure subscription can have up to 50 Storage Accounts (as of September 2014), (100 Storage accounts as of January 2015) at 500TB capacity each. Block Blob storage is very cheap. For example, the Azure price calculator shows that 100TB of LRS (Locally Redundant Storage) will cost a little over $28k/year. LRS maintains 3 copies of the data in a single Azure data center.

However, taking advantage of that vast cheap reliable block blob storage is a bit tricky.

Veeam accepts the following types of storage when adding a new Backup Repository:

I have examined the following scenarios of setting up Veeam Backup Repositories on an Azure VM:

1. Locally attached VHD files:

In this scenario, I attached the maximum number of 2 VHD disks to a Basic A1 Azure VM, and set them up as a Simple volume for maximum space and IOPS. This provides a 2TB volume and 600IOPS according to Virtual Machine and Cloud Service Sizes for Azure. Using 64 KB block size:

Although this option provides adequate bandwidth, its main problem is that it has maximum 1 TB file size which means maximum backup job is not to exceed 1 TB which is quite limiting in large environments.

You can have up to 50 100 (as of 12/2014) Storage accounts in an Azure Subscription. A storage account has a maximum capacity of 500TB. A Storage Account has the following properties: URL (name), location, replication:

Pick a name for your storage account in the URL field. It must be lower case letters and numbers.

Pick a location from the drop down list of Azure data centers. If you’re going to use the files in this Storage Account with an Azure VM, pick a the same location where the VM resides. Location cannot be changed after a storage account is created. Moving files between Storage Accounts will incur costs.

Within a Storage Account, we can create “Containers”. A Container is a similar to a folder. Within a container we can copy/delete/snapshot files. Files in an Azure Storage account can be copied as either:

Block Blobs: no file size limit, no snapshot feature

Page Blobs: a page blob file has a limit of 1TB (1023 GB). It has the benefit of snapshot feature. For example, Azure VM disks as saved as page blobs in Azure Storage.

Microsoft has announced a new “Azure Files” feature in May 2014 that provides SMB file shares to Azure VMs:

This feature provides 5TB file shares, with a maximum 1TB file size. This feature is currently in Preview, and can be accessed by signing up in this page. When you sign up the preview page will show that you’re Active:

You need to create a new storage account AFTER Azure Files feature has been activated. It won’t be available for existing storage accounts. You can see it as a new service in the Storage Account dashboard:

Replace the first 3 lines with a share name of your choice, and your storage account name and its access key. Make sure that the Storage account is provisioned in the same Azure data center where the VM(s) are located.

The share is now ready and can be used by one or more VMs. On a VM run: